It’s Cuushe, but not as you’ve ever heard her. In ‘Emergence’, the Tokyo singer-producer is at her most dancefloor ready. The beat shuffles with insectoid intricacies and thumping kicks, the synth looms laid-back and lounging, nocturnal piano drip-drops in with icy gloss.
Cuushe for a long time has been classed dream pop, but the garage-influenced beat and the strength of her mantra-like vocals launch ‘Emergence’ to a darkly effervescent realm of groove — for example, the sleek, solely instrumental outro conjures a futuristic take on the Streets of Rage II soundtrack. What could be dreamier?
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'Emergence' is taken from Cuushe's forthcoming new album Waken, out now on flau. Purchase it at the flau bandcamp.
A slow steamroller of a beat thuds as the propulsion to 'Magic', rusted metallic percussion ticking faintly at its mechanical heart. A set of heavy-hearted piano chords plays a downcast reverb-laden refrain; "I just wanna die.." Cuushe's voice whispers from this fog of sound. Craggy synths crack in mournful reply, a glistening gloomy call-and-response.
Starting quietly, almost from another perspective, later in the track her vocals rise up, outraged: "Magic... Why are you so silent?" A question perhaps posed to the once-dreaming individual now scrutinised by reality. Lightness eclipsed. This refrain cuts through a wash of intense sounds, synths glittering and roaring together with the clatter of a bright guitar riff — a combination of playful concreteness and fantasy synthetic noise that runs through 'Magic'.
It's all been brought to life with a video by director Tao Tajima. On a backdrop of footage filmed in the wilds of Tibet, it's a tale of ghostly girls tied with string to insistent flapping birds, drawn in their phantomic pastels by sometime Cuushe collaborator Yoko Kuno. The music — mysterious yet methodical in its makeup — matches the stark marching mountains and vast empty tundra.
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'Hold Half' is taken from Cuushe's forthcoming new album Waken, set for release 20th November on her label home flau. Pre-order it over on the flau bandcamp.
